Foods that are clean but loaded with sugar

Brian and I were having a discussion this morning about fruit and the amount of sugar in fruit. We were discussing the fact that in the original 21 Day Fix Tomatoes and Tomato sauce were in the Green container. Now in the 21 Day Fix Extreme they are Purple. This lead us into a discussion that not all fruits are created equal.

So many of you know that there is different types of sugar. Some things like fruits have natural occurring sugars. Other things like soda have added/additional sugars.

Some things like dried fruits have both natural and added sugar. The sugar on the back of the label includes both types of sugar. So you always need to defer to the ingredients list. If sugar in any of its forms is in the ingredient's list then you should try and steer clear of it. Of course some sugars are worse for you than others like high fructose corn syrup. The higher up the ingredient list sugar occurs the more added sugar the item has in it and the more you should avoid that item. Here are 56 names of sugar:

A few weeks ago I shared with you ways to lose those last few pounds. One of the tips was to not eat fruit after 2PM and if you really wanted to lose the weight to eat fruit from the low sugar category. Why shouldn't you eat fruit after 2PM? Many fruits have natural sugars. This will cause a spike in blood sugar later in the day and will damper the ability of the body to burn fat. Here is a bar graph of natural sugar in some fruits.

The American Heart Association (AHA) says that adult women should get 5 teaspoons (20 grams) of sugar per day, adult men 9 teaspoons (36 grams), and children 3 teaspoons (12 grams). For comparison, a can of soda can have 40 grams, or about 10 teaspoons of sugar. From the chart above you can see that one serving of grapes can put you over this recommendation.

Your body needs sugar. Glucose is released in the blood stream as fuel. There is usually enough glucose in muscles to run 1-2 hours. You replenish glucose by eating the right foods. You also need to eat them in the right portions. Also you don't want to give yourself a sugar spike. You want to try and eat many small meals a day. When your sugar is stable fat can be burned and then you lose weights.

Some other "healthy" foods that you should avoid if trying to lose weight are:
Coconut -- full of calories and fat
Mangos -- full of natural sugar
Pineapple -- full of natural sugar
Avocado -- high in calories (good to eat in small quantities)
Whole wheat pasta -- high in carbohydrates that breaks down into sugars in the body
Granola -- unless made yourself it is full of sugar and butter
Peanut butter -- high in calories and sugar
Trail Mix -- high in calories and easy to over indulge as it is small and doesn't fill you up too quickly
Low fat items -- most items are low fat because they have added sugar
Sugar free -- they usually have alternate forms of sugar

So as you can see if you are trying to loss weight there are some foods you should avoid. If you have been losing weight and have reached a plateau and haven't tried to remove these items from your diet try it and you may lose those last unwated pounds. Hope you have a blessed day.